


Beholding

by dopekanna



Series: Naruto AU Week 2021 [1]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Apocalypse, Angst, Depression, Kaguya Wins, Not Beta Read, Sad Ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-08
Updated: 2021-02-08
Packaged: 2021-03-14 01:54:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,124
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29288661
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dopekanna/pseuds/dopekanna
Summary: Sasuke was alone again, and this time for good.
Series: Naruto AU Week 2021 [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2150949
Comments: 1
Kudos: 6
Collections: Naruto AU Week 2021





	Beholding

Sasuke knew he’d made a mistake when he killed Naruto.

When the last of the Kyūbi’s chakra was absorbed into the Gedō Mazō, and Naruto’s empty body crumpled into its petrified hands, he’d felt a shiver down his spine, and he’d thought that he’d been witness (accomplice) to the death of the last of humanity’s hope. He hadn’t understood the magnitude of the consequences though, not until the statue’s final eye opened, and Madara – no, _Obito_ – became the Jūbi’s jinchūriki, hell-bent on ending the world. They’d almost defeated the mad Uchiha, courtesy of Sasuke’s new Rinnegan, but then Zetsu betrayed them and turned Obito into that _demon_.

Then the moon opened its eye, and everything _really_ went to hell. When everyone but him stared into the moon and Kaguya’s Roots mummified them in white bark, he knew humanity had lost, and he had abetted its downfall.

Sasuke was alone again, and this time for good.

  
  


He escaped Kaguya’s clutches (although it felt more like she _let_ him escape) and spent the first few years after the end traveling through the now-silent countries, starkly lit in black and white under the ever-shining moon. He searched for someone, anyone, who may have escaped the Inifinite Tsukuyomi, sidestepping the millions of cocooned White Zetsu in the crumbling roads. He tried searching Orochimaru’s labs, hidden in the caves that made up Otogakure, but they had been unattended for too long for any of test subjects to have lived, even with the Sannin’s likely myriad contingency plans. The Root barracks under the Hokage Rock were much the same – there had been an eerie pile of cocoons right at the entrance, as if people had gone out to check on others and had gotten caught in the genjutsu themselves, like blind moths to a flame.

No one else was left alive, and his heart burned. A familiar state of mind, to only be fueld by anger; directed at who, he couldn’t really say anymore, but he razed whole forests and destroyed the desolate cities in his blind rage. The sickly-sweet smell of burning White Zetsu ichor was constant. Konoha was left untouched though – he would stand at the front gate, make the hand signs (snake, ram, monkey, boar, horse, tiger, as easy as blinking), bring his fingers to his lips and – he could never bring himself to breath.

Eventually he crawled back to the Mountains’ Graveyard, where the end had began. He leveled the giant bones and tore through the cave with bare hands, back to where the Gedō Mazō had once stood. The giant stone lotus was still intact, the statue’s shackles broken and discarded across its petals. Sasuke readied a Chidori to demolish that _demon’s_ throne, but he saw a glint of light, a reflection of his lightning, and he jumped down onto the lotus. Naruto’s forehead protector was still wrapped around his skull, even though the skin and fat had long since rotted away.

Sasuke screamed as his knees hit the stone platform. He covered his face with his hands, but through his fingers he could see Naruto’s face superimposed on the skull, the childhood smiles and the vicious snarls that surfaced in their many duels. He hated himself, hated what he had done in the name of vengeance against Konoha, and even though he’d gotten what he’d wanted (because Konoha was its people and they were as good as dead now), still was he found wanting for something he could not name but felt in moments that would never return. He picked up the skull, cradled it to his chest, and left the cave. It would be a long walk back to Konoha.

  
  


The leaves should’ve been turning colors by the time he – _they_ returned. Under the eye though, it was hard to make out anything besides dark and light, black and white. He walked through the gate, past the two cocoons at the entry station, and towards the south end of the village back to the Uchiha district. He held Naruto close to his chest as he walked through the gates to the main compound, the one place where he expected the silence of the dead. He didn’t stop until he returned to his childhood home, and he opened its front door for the first time in a decade. It slid open easily, without noise, and he walked through its dark halls. The wood was dusty, the screens starting to sag, but otherwise it was as he had left it. He set Naruto down on the family shrine, beside the picture of his mother and father, and went to his room.

  
  


He slept for a long time, but he did not dream. The moon shone above, but how could it do so without a sun to give it light?

  
  


Years passed; he lived off the scavenged canned and dried goods in the Konoha ruins. He didn’t know how to farm, his attempts at a garden bore him nothing but wilting, rotting leaves, and he couldn’t hunt since all animals were Zetsu now, filled with nothing but inedible ichor. He explored every single building in Konoha, read the books in the libraries, learned the horrible truths of history from the Root archives, looked at the shrine thinking of nothing, and tried his best to ignore the dead. The outings grew shorter in time and distance from the house, and eventually he spent more time in dreamless sleep than awake.

One day, he woke up to the sound of the front door sliding open, and he moved faster than he’d had since the inglorious end of the war, speeding through the house and hoping that maybe he wasn’t alone –

“Now this is just embarrassing, Sasuke,” Black Zetsu said, leaning on the door frame, “You’re making Mother very sad.”

Sasuke crumpled to the ground, sobbing into his hands. Zetsu knelt in front of him and put a hand on his shoulder.

“Shh, it’s okay. I know you’ve been through a lot. Why don’t you tell me what’s wrong?”

He looked up and opened his mouth, but no words came out. He _tried_ to say something, but the words wouldn’t come. When was the last time he’d heard another voice? Zetsu looked at him with pity.

“Mother was right, you’re like a child now. You can’t speak, much less take care of yourself.”

Zetsu helped him up to his feet, wrapping an arm around his shoulders. He led Sasuke out into the front yard, and wiped the tears from his face gently.

“There’s no need to be scared, Sasuke-kun, it’s just a bad dream. Don’t worry, Mother can fix everything,” he said, tilting Sasuke’s head up to the pure white moon.

He looked up, and his eye stared back.


End file.
